HANNIBAL BARCA
THE CARTHAGINIAN MILITARY GENIUS 247-183/181 BCE CARTHAGE
The son of the renowned Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca, Hannibal spent much of his early life in Spain. His father, who had vigorously fought the Romans during the First Punic War, reputedly made his son swear eternal hostility to Rome and Hannibal certainly lived up to that oath.
At the age of only 26, Hannibal’s military talents were confirmed when he was appointed as the Carthaginian commander-inchief in Iberia. He conquered various Spanish tribes and won a significant battle on the River Tagus. After attacking the pro-roman city of Saguntum, open conflict broke out between Rome and Carthage that was the beginning of the Second Punic War.
Hannibal dominated the Carthaginian conduct of the conflict and his grasp of tactics and strategy marked him out as one of the greatest commanders in military history. To take the war to the Romans while avoiding their navy, Hannibal audaciously invaded
Italy from the north by marching his army through Spain, France and over the Alps in an epic journey that lasted five months.
His achievement was to surmount the difficulties of climate, terrain and tribal guerrillas with a huge army of a multiracial, multilingual diversity that was ill suited to the conditions in which they travelled.
Once he was inside Italy, the Carthaginians continually fought numerically superior Roman armies but won crushing victories. Hannibal’s battlefield successes at the Trebia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae among others came close to destroying
Roman power. However, Hannibal failed to march on Rome and allowed his enemies to slowly recover.
Hannibal’s limited resources in Italy and lack of reinforcements eventually took their toll and he abandoned the peninsula in 203 BCE. The Carthaginians concentrated their forces in their Tunisian homeland after violating an armistice but Hannibal was heavily defeated at Zama in 202 BCE. Although he escaped, Hannibal never militarily campaigned for Carthage again.